To create negative energy, a warp drive would use a huge amount of mass to create an imbalance between particles and antiparticles. Physicists have never observed negative mass, so that leaves negative energy as the only option. The warp drive would require either negative mass – a theorized type of matter – or a ring of negative energy density to work.
Image via Tokamac/ Wikimedia Commons.Īlcubierre’s warp drive would work by creating a bubble of flat spacetime around the spaceship and curving spacetime around that bubble to reduce distances. This 2–dimensional representation shows how positive mass curves spacetime (left side, blue earth) and negative mass curves spacetime in an opposite direction (right side, red earth). Proxima Centauri here we come, right? Unfortunately, Alcubierre’s method of compressing spacetime had one problem: it requires negative energy or negative mass. Alcubierre showed that the warp drive from “Star Trek” was in fact theoretically possible. In theory, this approach does not contradict the laws of relativity since you are not moving faster than light in the space around you. Then, moving through spacetime at your maximum speed of one meter per second, you would be able to reach point B in about one second. However, let’s say you could somehow compress the space between you and point B so that the interval is now just one meter. If you are standing at point A and can travel one meter per second, it would take 10 seconds to get to point B. So, what does that mean? Imagine the distance between two points is 10 meters (33 feet). In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre, a Mexican theoretical physicist, showed that compressing spacetime in front of the spaceship while expanding it behind was mathematically possible within the laws of General Relativity. What if a starship could compress space in front of it while expanding spacetime behind it? “Star Trek” took this idea and named it the warp drive. Early science fiction writers John Campbell and Asimov saw this warping as a way to skirt the speed limit. This curvature is what you feel as gravity and why many spacefaring heroes worry about “getting stuck in” or “falling into” a gravity well. General relativity also describes how mass and energy warp spacetime – hefty objects like stars and black holes curve spacetime around them. General Relativity states that space and time are fused and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Physicists’ current understanding of spacetime comes from Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. Two recent papers made headlines in March when researchers claimed to have overcome one of the many challenges that stand between the theory of warp drives and reality.īut how do these theoretical warp drives really work? And will humans be making the jump to warp speed anytime soon? This 2-dimensional representation shows the flat, unwarped bubble of spacetime in the center where a warp drive would sit surrounded by compressed spacetime to the right (downward curve) and expanded spacetime to the left (upward curve). Warp drives are theoretically possible if still far-fetched technology. Another approach – familiar to “Star Trek” fans – is warp drive technology. Some characters – like the astronauts in the movies “Interstellar” and “Thor” – use wormholes to travel between solar systems in seconds. I am now a theoretical physicist and study nanotechnology, but I am still fascinated by the ways humanity could one day travel in space.
As a kid, I read as many of those stories as I could get my hands on. In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, humanity can travel from planet to planet, star to star or across the universe using jump drives. But so far, faster-than-light travel is possible only in science fiction. If humanity ever wants to travel easily between stars, people will need to go faster than light. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earth’s nearest neighboring solar system. The fastest ever spacecraft, the now-in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 miles (724,000 km) per hour. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. Image via Les Bossinas/ NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.īy Mario Borunda, Oklahoma State University If it were possible, it would enable humans to reach other stars in a reasonable amount of time. | Artist’s concept of faster-than-light travel through a wormhole.
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